Getting Started
'TerraFirmaCraft' TerraFirmaCraft is a massive rewrite for the entire game of Minecraft, aimed at turning the "Survival" aspect of the game to that of a more realistic setting. This mod makes the game much harder, and so is recommended for experienced players only! If you feel you are such, continue... 'Getting Started: A New World' The first thing you will notice when you create a new world are the odd squares around the ground. These are important, as they are the first thing you will need: rocks, the foundation for your first tools. Smash them and they drop as items you can pick up. Once you have collected at least two rocks of the same type, put them in your active slot and right-click anywhere. This will bring you to the knapping interface. Use this to produce the heads for tools, the first of which should be an axe. Next, you will need sticks. If you haven't already, find a tree, and try to knock it down with your fist. Wait, didn't I mention this mod goes for realism? Yes, that's right, smashing it with your fist does'' absolutely nothing!'' In order to get sticks, turn your gaze upward to the leaves. Smash some leaves, and you will notice sticks begin to fall. After all, in reality, you wouldn't be able to knock down an entire tree, you'd have to break branches to get your first lumber! Use your axe to hack at the base of a tree. Once you destroy the log, you will notice all of the lumber falls down for you to gather, just like in reality! Oh, but wait, look in your inventory and you'll notice that the logs have unfortunately taken up quite a bit of space! Unlike in normal Minecraft, where you can hold entire forests' worth of wood in your pocket, lumber in TFCraft is heavy, and you can only hold so much of it. Use your inventory wisely! To save inventory space, you can create log piles. One of the first things you should probably make is somewhere to cook your food, right? Let's start by making a basic firepit. Take three sticks, and throw them on the ground. Then, taking two more, place them diagonally in the crafting grid to make a firestarter. This is essentially two sticks that you rub together to start a fire. Use it on the block beneath the three sticks, and after a few tries you should get a fully functional firepit! 'Getting Started: Shelter' Now that you have a firepit, use it to make torches. You're going to need them soon! Right-click the firepit and place a stick into the middle top box, wait a couple of seconds, and voila! Torches. Notice how you can't put more than one stick in at the time. This is another part of TFC's realism, stuff just won't cook itself you know, you have to be there to cook it. Now that you have torches, you'd better think of making a shelter pretty quickly. By the time night comes, you'll have a hell of a time trying to survive in TFC. Without weapons and armour, you won't have much chance against your enemies. The thing is, making a proper shelter is hard! Unless you find some form of cave or other natural shelter, your best bet is to dig a hole in the ground and try to cover the entrance and endure the night. Digging a hole is a lot easier with a shovel, go ahead and knap a shovel head and make a Shovel now. Careful how you dig, dirt no longer floats in the sky like before. Dirt is affected by gravity, like sand in vanilla minecraft, but not only that, it needs support on the sides below or it will slide down! Lucky for you, grass will hold the dirt stable, so dig a level below the grass, and fill up the entrance to your hole. Press "N" to open your calendar to see the time of day, daylight starts at about hour 5. A less than honourable way to survive the night, but a way to survive nonetheless! As of build 77, you can now create, and build with, thatch. First, knapp a knife blade (or two) and then create a knife. Use the knife to get at least 132 straw to create enough thatch for a small hut. Thatch is created using 4 straw in your crafting grid, so craft as much thatch as you can. Once you've crafted your thatch use it to create your hut. I tend to use the following floor plan: Place the thatch 2 high for the walls and then cover it with 9 more thatch for the ceiling. Place a torch inside (if you have one) and then you can close it off with 2 more thatch blocks for the night. Thatch (currently) doesn't burn so you don't need to worry about that if you wish to create a firepit inside your hut. 'Getting Started: Sustenance' By now you might have noticed the blue and green bars depleting. Once the blue bar reaches half way, you will be too thirsty to sprint. At quarter level, you will be punished with a slow effect, greatly reducing your movement speed. Go stand in some water to replenish your thirst! It's a slow process, but it will have to do. That green bar represents your fill, or the inverse of your hunger. When that reaches 0, you will starve to death. To prevent that, make yourself a javelin. In fact, make yourself 3 javelins. Knap some stones, and combine sticks. If you find some animals, kill them by throwing the javelins on them. Charge the javelin before throwing by holding down the right-mouse button. Even sheep will yield mutton if killed. One animal should be enough to last several days, after you cook the meats at the firepit. Alternately, if you find some vegetables in your area, harvest them and eat enough to keep you alive. Use the rest to make seeds and plant them to grow more food. You'll need to plant quite a lot, since it'll take several days before they bear fruit. Now, are you annoyed with having to spend long hours in the water just to replenish thirst? I know I am! It's time to make some pots and jugs. Look for areas where yellow flowers grow in a bunch. These yellow flowers, called Goldenrod, only grow on clay, so once you spot them, dig! When you have at least 5 clay, hold them in your hand and right-click (like with knapping) to bring up the clay-interface. Shape a jug and some vessels. Now it's time to burn those pots. Collect 15 straw using your knife. Dig a hole 1 block deep. Shift-right-click the bottom of the hole while holding your clay jug or vessel. This will place the clay objects at the bottom of the pit. Now hold the straw in your hand, and right-click (''not ''shift-right-click) at the bottom to lay straw there. Lay 8 straw (you can hold the mouse button down, it'll stop at 8). Next put 8 logs on top of the straw by right-clicking. Now set the logs on fire with your fire-starter. The fire will burn for the better part of the day. Once the fire has died, shift-right-click the ready ceramic jugs and vessels at the bottom of the pit. You can now carry water along on your journeys, instead of constantly returning to a water source for your thirst. The water jug also replenishes more than half thirst almost instantly, so it's a lot more efficient than drinking through your feet! {To Be Continued}